Since the industrial revolution, simple wrenches have been used to fasten and unfasten bolts and screws to and from machinery and other structures. Various types of wrenches exist today, and two common types of these wrenches are open-ended wrenches and box-ended wrenches. The open-ended wrench comprises a handle having a forked portion attached to one or both ends of the handle. The box-ended wrench comprises a handle having a rigid annulus attached to one or both ends of the handle. In either instance, a set of wrenches having varying sizes of forked-ends or boxed-ends is provided to match the various sizes of bolt heads or screw heads that require fastening or unfastening. Using even a simple wrench is sometimes cumbersome and time consuming. For example, an operator of a simple wrench might turn the handle of the wrench circumferentially over and over again about the bolt head until it is sufficiently unfastened so that the operator can remove the remaining portion of the bolt from the structure by hand. When the operator has limited space within which to turn his wrench, another procedure must be employed to remove the bolt. Here, the operator must engage the bolt with the wrench, preferably, at an optimum leverage point. Once engaged, the wrench is moved angularly about the bolt head until it is no longer practical. The wrench is detached from the bolt and engaged once again, preferably, at the optimum leverage point so that the wrench could again be moved angularly about the bolt head. This process must be repeated over and over again until the bolt is sufficiently removed from the structure so that the remaining portion of the bolt could be removed by hand.
To overcome these problems with simple open-ended and box-ended wrenches, the commonly known ratchet wrench was developed. With a ratchet wrench, the operator is able to fasten or remove a bolt or screw from a structure without turning the handle of the wrench an entire rotation around the head and without detaching the wrench from the head. Thus, speed and efficiency in fastening or removing a bolt or screw are achieved. However, typical ratcheting mechanisms incorporated into standard ratchet wrenches are relatively delicate structures. As a result, ratchet wrenches are usually limited in use to smaller, lighter-duty applications. A need exists in industry to provide a reliable, rugged ratchet wrench that is simple and efficient to use for heavy-duty applications. Such a ratchet wrench could be employed to open and close large valves such as those used for water mains or fire hydrants or fasten and remove large nuts and bolts to and from heavy-duty industrial equipment such as those used in mining or steel-making industries.
Large valves are used in many applications. In the oil and gas industry for example, large valves are placed throughout a pipeline system so that the flow of oil or gas can be controlled. Municipal water districts also place large valves throughout its water distribution pipeline so that the flow of water can be controlled and distributed to its customers. To avoid indiscriminate tampering with the opening or closing of city water mains, typically, the water main valve is provided without a handle. As a result, municipal water department crews, excavators and contractors are required to carry their own wrenches. Generally, these wrenches are of the type having either an open end or a box end that is adapted to receive the stem of the valve. A contractor might use a pipe wrench to open or close the valve of the city water main. In some municipalities, using a pipe wrench is undesirable because the toothed jaws of a pipe wrench often damage the valve stem. Excess damage of the valve stem may render it useless resulting in costly replacement.
Firemen also use either open ended or box ended wrenches to open and close the ports as well as the valves of fire hydrants. Upon arrival at a fire scene, it is desirable to open the ports and the valve of the fire hydrant as quickly as possible so that the firemen could begin extinguishing the blaze to minimize fire damage. Using an open ended or box ended wrench, although very reliable, is quite time consuming. Although employing a ratchet wrench to operate a fire hydrant would be desirable from a time-savings standpoint, such a ratchet wrench used in any emergency situation must be reliable.
It is with these considerations as well as others that the present invention evolved.